Charles Dierkop, Actor in Classic Movies and TV Shows, Dead at 87

Along with playing George 'Flat Nose' Curry opposite Paul Newman in 'Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid,' Dierkop also appeared in 'The St. Valentine's Day Massacre,' 'Star Trek' and 'Police Woman.'

By Allison Schonter

Veteran actor Charles Dierkop, known for his roles in Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid, The Sting, and Police Woman, has died. Dierkop passed away at Sherman Oaks Hospital on Sunday, Feb. 25 following a recent heart attack and a case of pneumonia, his daughter Lynn told The Hollywood Reporter on Monday. He was 87.

Born in La Crosse, Wisconsin in 1936, Dierkop dropped out of high school to enlist in the U.S. Marine Corps and served during the Korean War until September 1955. He studied acting in Philadelphia and at The Actors Studio in New York following his military stint before going on to make his first on-screen appearance in a 1960 episode of ABC's The Naked City, a crime drama on which he'd appear seven more times in uncredited roles. Throughout the decade, the actor appeared in a number of other hit series, including Lost In Space, The Man from U.N.C.L.E., Gunsmoke, The Andy Griffith Show, Star Trek, and Batman.

Charles Dierkop Appearing In 'Captains Courageous'
(Photo: Disney General Entertainment Content via Getty Images)

The Wisconsin-born character actor made his big screen debut in 1961's Voyage to the Bottom of the Sea, a sci-fi movie starring Walter Pidgeon, Robert Sterling, Peter Lorre, and Joan Fontaine. That same year, he landed an uncredited role opposite Paul Newman in The Hustler. The pair went on to work together again in Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid (1969) when Dierkop landed the role of outlaw George "Flat Nose." They also worked together in 1973's The Sting, which also starred his Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid costar Robert Redford and Robert Shaw.

Related:

Dierkop's credits also include Sidney Lumet's The Pawnbroker starring Rod Steiger, and Roger Corman's The St. Valentine's Day Massacre starring Jason Robards. On the big screen, he also starred in Pound (1970), Angels Hard as They Come (1971), Night of the Cobra Woman (1972), The Hot Box (1972), Messiah of Evil (1973), and Messenger of Death (1988), with his small screen credits including the 1970s NBC police procedural Police Woman, CHiPs, Fantasy Island, The Fall Guy, Simon & Simon, and MacGyver. His last credited role came in 2016 when he appeared in The Midnighters.

Dierkop was married to Joan Addis from 1958 until their divorce in 1974. The pair shared two children, son Charles Jr., who died in 1990 at age 29, and daughter Lynn, who told Entertainment Weekly in a statement, "I got to spend most of his last day with him in the hospital and was able to thank him for showing me how to live life in the most loving way."

Trending Now: